New sheriff in town: Scott London planning big changes for the Eddy County Sheriff's Department

Scott London, who has spent the last four years as a sergeant with the Artesia Police Department, said he has plans of re-shaping the vision of the sheriff's department when he starts in January.

London, 39, was born and raised in Carlsbad, but has bounced around between New Mexico and Texas in his 13 years in law enforcement experience.
He considers himself a hometown guy, enjoys country dancing with his wife Michelle and 6-year-old daughter May at the Elks Lodge. He attends worship services at Carlsbad Mennonite Church and is also an active member of the local Gideons International camp, which distributes Bibles.
He attended Carlsbad High, where he also met his future wife through choir, though they didn't begin dating until after they reunited at their 10-year reunion in 2002.

He considers Don Raley, Artesia's police chief, to be his biggest mentor.

"He's allowed me to experience some areas of law enforcement that I wouldn't have normally been exposed to," London said.

After a long and exhausting 14 months of campaigning, London is excited to be done with it all. It was an educational experience "I've had a lot of people come up and approach me with things, quite honestly, I hadn't thought about," he said. London said he's become more educated about the U.S. Constitution in the last year than he has in the last 16 years.

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If he lost the election, he had backup plans of trying to get a job at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center located in Artesia, because of his love for teaching.

London said he is proud of the fact that he is not only the first Republican sheriff in Eddy County, but this was also the first election in the county in which the sheriff wasn't elected immediately in the primary, he said.

He believes a lot of the Republicans in the county were excited to finally have a Republican candidate on the ballot.
"I've talked to people who said they've been a Republican for years, but would never switch parties on the ballot because they wouldn't have a deciding vote in the sheriff's race," London said.

London's already on a search for his undersheriff and executive secretary.

He's conducting a nationwide search for the undersheriff position and believes it's important to find someone who shares his vision for the department.
"I want to give everyone the chance to prove themselves. I don't plan on making any radical staff decisions when I come in," he said.

He wants the sheriff's department staff to begin using Global, a records management system that he said the department purchased two years ago.
According to London, this technology was purchased more than two years ago by the county for a total of $1.9 million and the department chooses not to use it now, he said.

This issue actually pushed London to run in this year's race, he said. The software is used to manage police reports and makes it easier to share information instantly.

London intends to make a push to use the system and have staff trained by March.
Another technology he'll push for is installation and usage of GPS in all department vehicles.
The number one reason, he said, is officer safety.
"I want to be able to locate every one of my deputies out there," London said.

He hopes that anyone who has spent a good length of time with the sheriff's office will be willing to step out of their comfort zone and prove themselves.

"I want to change the hearts and minds of the deputies and show them that there is another way of doing law enforcement," London said.
"I'm always looking to improve myself, one way or another," London said.

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